Heel clamp for a ski binding



Dec. 2, 1969 R. HATLAPA 3,481,616

HEEL CLAMP FOR A SKI BINDING Filed July 5, 19e? 3 sheets-'sheet 1 FVG.

BY 0W@ M7 ATTORNEY 'rllxrllll//lll/ Dec. 2, 1969 R. HATLAPA 3,481,616

HEEL CLAMP FOR A SKI BINDING Filed July 5, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet l /NVf/vmp Rolf H atl opa ATTORNEY Dec. 2, 1969 R. HATLAPA HEEL CLAMP FOR A SKI BINDING 5 Sheets-Sheet S Filed July 5, 1967 Ni /m/fwro Rolf Hatopa ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,481,616 HEEL lCLAMP FOR A SKI BINDING Rolf Hatlapa, Tornescher Weg -7, Uetersen 2082, Germany Filed July 5, 1967, Ser. No. 651,189 Claims priority, appliilitigl Germany, July 12, 1966,

9 Int. Cl. A63c 9/ 00, 11/12 U.S. Cl. 280-11.35 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the invention The present invention relates to a heel clamp for a ski binding.

Description of the prior art Various heel clamps are known, which hold the ski shoe on the ski in a suppressed position and which release when the shoe heel is stressed in a vertical direction. Release entails a relaxing of the` tightener spring. Furthermore, heel clamps are known in which the ski shoe is disengaged by a stress on the heel in a vertical and horizontal direction, but in these the ski shoe rotates horizontally out of the ski binding and the tightener spring remains tightened. In these known construtcions, bone fractures occur, because the point of disengagement cannot be adjusted exactly.

Summary of the invention It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a heel clamp which avoids the above drawbacks and which releases after only a small ski boot displacement.

In brief summary, the heel clamp of the invention includes a clamp housing and a boot suppressor pivoted on the clamp housing. A tightening lever is pivoted on the clamp housing. A tightener spring provides a clamping force to hold the suppressor against the heel in a locking position. The suppressor `is tiltable in the vertical direction against the clamp housing and/or is simultaneously displaceable and/or swingable in the horizontal direction. The locking of the tightener lever is released by any one of the suppressor movements.

Other objects of the present invention are:

To provide a locking structure in the form of a pullrod, the one end of which is connected with the suppressor by disengaging levers and the other end of which is connected with a tightener lever locking latch;

To provide a locking structure in the form of a pullrod, the one end of which is connected with the suppressor by at least one inclined plane and the other end of which is connected with a tightener lever locking latch;

To provide the possibility of a disengagement of the heel clamp by hand, and furthermore in such a manner, that the locking structure is disengaged by a simple pressure on the locked tightener lever.

This last mentioned construction has the feature, that the tightener lever is lockable by a simple pressure and is disengaged by repeating the pressure. The construction of the heel tightener in this invention is such that there are no parts which jut out and therefore it is not possible to have an accidental release of the tightener lever.

3,481,616 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures thereof.

Brief description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal section of a side elevation of a first embodiment of the heel clamp;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view thereof, partly in section;

FIGURE 3 is a section along line III- III of FIG- URE l;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the rst embodiment;

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal section of a side elevation of a second embodiment of the heel clamp;

FIGURE 6 is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 5, partly in section.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGURES l and 2, the rst embodiment of the present invention comprises a ski 1 on which is attached a base plate 2. This base plate 2 includes a foundation 3. Clamp housing 5 is slidably mounted via rivet 30 in the base plate and pin 4 in slot 23 of the foundation.

Tightener lever 7 is pivotably mounted to the clamp housing on pin 6. Connected to the tightener lever 7 at pin 8 is the eye of bolt 9. There is an adjusting nut 10 on the thread of .this bolt and attached to this nut is spring 11, which has at its other end helical windings of reduced diameter. Spring 11 is attached to the base plate at its reduced end by way of bolt 12. On one end of the clamp housing 5 is arran-ged the suppressor 13. This suppressor 13 can tilt about the pin 27 and is also, as shown particularly in FIGURE 2, laterally shiftably mounted on pin 27. The suppressor 13 has pivoted to it two disengaging levers 14. One leg of these levers abuts against the interior wall of the clamp housing S and the other leg rests against the shank side of the head 15 of the pullrod 16. Lateral shifting of the suppressor causes the lever 14 abutting on the side of the clamp housing which the suppressor is nearing to execute a rotation. Its leg resting against the head 1S is given a vector velocity component pointing toward the front of the ski. The pullro-d 16 is surrounded by helical spring 17. This spring rests against the one legs of the disengaging levers 14 at one end and on the other side against the latch 18.

During rotation of the suppressor 13 around the pin 27 or in the case of lateral shifting of the suppressor, the pullrod 16 is drawn in the direction toward the suppressor 13. Spring 19 is wound around pin 4 and abuts with its ends 31 against the housing 5. Latch 18 is pivoted on pin 4 and at this point of pivoting, the spring 19 passes across the latch 18 face opposite to that on which spring 17 rests. The pullrod passes through groove 32 of the latch and engages with its hooked end 33 that portion of spring 19 passing across the face of the latch.

When the pullrod moves toward the suppressor, the latch 18 moves out of engagement with the blocking nose 20 of the tightener lever 7. This disengaging is also attainable by a pressure in direction of arrow 21 on the lever 7. This causes the auxiliary lever 22 to push away the latch 18 from its engagement with the blocking nose 20. The auxiliary lever 22 is swingably arranged on the tightener lever 7 and holds the blocking latch 18 away from the blocking nose 20 until the nose 20 reaches a position above the blocking latch 18.

FIGURE 3 shows a symmetrical arrangement of a heel clamp with the position of the spring 19 surrounding the pin 4 and the arrangement of this pin in the side foundations 3.

FIGURE 4 shows a side elevation, in which the foundation 3 is evident. In both foundations 3 there are inclined slots 23 for guiding the pins 4. When the tightener lever 7 is opened by a clockwise rotation in FIGURE 4 about pin 6, the spring 11 shifts the tghtener lever 7 and therefore also the clamp housing in an obliquely upwards direction. FIGURE 4 also shows the heel 34 of a ski boot in position on a ski. The suppressor is contoured to fit again and over the heel of the boot` The FIGURES 5 and 6 show another embodiment of the arrangement of the supppressor 13 on the clamp housing 5. Of special interest is the connection of the suppressor of the pullrod 16.

In this second embodiment, there are no disengaging levers 14. On the suppressor 13 there is shiftably mounted a pin 24. In this pin 24 there are two notches 25, which engage the holding parts 26. These parts 26 are formed integrally with the suppressor 13.

During a lateral shifting of the suppressor 13 the parts 26 run along the inclined planes of the notches 25. This causes the pin 24 to shift toward the suppressor 13 and to move the pullrod 16 such that the blocking latch 18 sets free the blocking nose 20, as described for the first embodiment, whereby the tightener lever 7 is disengaged, resulting in a rearward moving of the clamp housing 5 with the suppressor 13 away from the ski shoe.

In its broad sense, the second embodiment achieves movement of the pullrod toward the suppressor when the suppressor moves laterally in either direction because parts 26 are at their deepest positions in the notches 25 in FIGURE 6 and movement in either direction from this geometrically extreme position results in a unidirectional movement of the pullrod.

The drawing are to scale in preferred forms of the present invention.

In both the first and second embodiments, the ski boot is placed in the binding when the tightener lever 7 is released from engagement with latch 18. Then, counterclockwisely in the drawing, the tightener lever is rotated about pivot pin 6, until latch 18 engages the blocking nose 20. The blocking nose and latch are on the underside of the tightener lever. In the resulting arrangement of the structure, spring 11 pulls clamp housing and suppressor into engagement with the heel. Because of slot 23 and pin 4, the movemen of the suppressor pushes the boot into the toe binding while at the same time bearing downwards on the upper ridge of the heel. Excessive, predetermined thrust at the heel in the vertical direction or laterally causes the suppressor to rotate or displace such that latch 18 moves out of engagement with the blocking nose 20, thus triggering release of the tightening lever and freeing the boot. The thrust at which releasing movement of the suppressor occurs is controllable by choice of the spring constants and operational forces of springs 17 and 19 and the various frictional forces present. The structure herein disclosed accomplishes the above objects of the invention and provides a superior clamp and safety device for the skier.

The following definitions are presented: Y

(a) Horizontal perpendicular directions mean the two vector directions lying in the plane of the sole of a ski boot clamped to a ski and lying perpendicular to the ski.

(b) Vertical direction means the vector direction perpendicular to the plane of the sole of a ski boot clamped to a ski. It is rising from the ski through the boot.

(c) Normal position of the ski boot means that position of the boot relative to the ski when the boot is clamped to the ski, but not skiing is being done. When skiing is being done and a fall occurs, excessive thrusts on the boot can move the boot out of its normal position.

The pivoting of suppressor 13 about the axis of pin 27 and the lateral shifting capability of the suppressor relative to the clamp housing and thus relative to the ski has the combined eiect that a thrust of the heel of sucient size outwards from the normal heel position 4- in any direction from the horizontal perpendicular directions to the vertical direction will result in correspondingly direction movement of the suppressor and in release of the heel from clamp. This universally directioned releasing is an important feature of the invention.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates to only preferred embodiments of the invention and that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the examples of the invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

While the boot in FIGURE 4 is shown with a heel having a straight vertical rear wall perpendicular to the ski, the present invention is also operable with those types of boots now conventional on the North American continent having a concave groove in the rear wall for use with a cable in other types of bindings. In such an instance, the suppressor 13 preferably is to be built outwards into a nose mating with the groove. This may be in addition to the top portion of the suppressor 13, or in lieu thereof.

I claim:

1. A clamp for a ski binding, comprising:

(a) a suppressor capable of fitting against and over a ski boot; and

(b) means mountable to a ski and tightenable to force the suppressor against the ski boot to hold the boot to the ski; said means to force comprising: a pivoting mounitng means for mounting said suppressor pivotably about an axis parallel to the horizontal perpen dicular directions; said suppressor being shiftable on said pivoting mounting means in the horizontal perpendicular directions, that is, in the direction of the pivot axis; means to translate any movement of said suppressor out of normal position into a unidirectional movement; tightening means to force, when a locked postion, the suppressor against the ski boot to hold the boot to the ski; and linkage and triggering means connected between the means to translate and said tightening means, said linkage and triggering means responsive to the unidirectional output of the means to translate to release, upon a predetermined amount of unidirectional movement, said tightening means from its locked position;

(c) said suppressor being movable about its pivot axis and in the horizontal perpendicular directions with the ski boot from the normal position of the boot;

(d) the movement of said suppressor out of normal position being resisted by opposing forces of predetermined magnitude exerted by said tightening means;

(e) predetermined amounts of movement of said suppressor out of normal position creating, via said means to translate, said predetermined amount 0f unidirectional movement, whereby a skiers boot may be released upon attainment of predetermined thrusts in a fall.

2. A clamp as claimed in claim 1, said means to translate comprising:

(a) lever means ymounted pivotably on said supressor;

(b) abutment means:

(c) movement of said suppressor out of said normal position on its pivot axis resulting in an interaction of said lever means and said abutment means whereby said lever means -moves in the direction of said unidirectional movement.

3. A clamp as claimed in claim 1, said means to translate comprising:

(a) a guide means fixed realtive to the movement of said suppressor in the direction of its pivot axis;

(b) said suppressor and said guide means having a contact in the form of a geometrical extreme when said suppressor is in its normal position, movement of said suppressor out of said normal position, movement of said suppressor out of said normal position resulting in a unidirectional movement of said guide means.

4. A clamp as claimed in claim 1, said triggering means being operable additionally by a predetermined external pressure on said tightening means.

5. A clamp as calimed in claim 1, said pivoting mounting means comprising a base plate, a clamp housing and a pin (27), said base plate being ixable to a ski, said clamp housing being mounted in said base plate and capable of a sliding movement aligned with the length of the ski, said pin (27) being mounted to said clamp housing, the suppressor being mounted on the pin (27); said tightening means comprising the base plate of the pivoting mounting means, the clamp housing of the pivoting mountin-g means, a tightener lever, pins (4), foundations, and spring (11), said foundations being integrally attached to said base plate and rising substantially vertically from the ski and laterally to said clamp housing, said clamp housing and said foundations haivng betwen them the pins (4) in one and slots in the other, said slots sloping downwardly, toward the suppressor, said pins riding in said slots, said tightener lever pivotably mounted to said clamp housing, said spring (11) being connected between said base plate and said tightening lever, said spring forcing the suppressor via said cla-mp housing downwardly against a ski boot on the ski when the tightening means is in the locked position characterized by a particular position of the tightener lever; said triggering mens including means for releasably holding said tightener lever in the locked position; said spring (11) being loosened by a pivoting of said tightener lever out of the locked position when the tightener lever is released.

6. A clamp as claimed in claim 1, said linkage and triggering means comprising:

(a) a latch means engageable with said tightening means to hold it in its locked position;

(b) a spring means biasing said latch means into engagement with said tightening means; and

(c) a pullrod means to transmit the unidirectional output of said means to translate to pull said latch out of engagement with said tightening means.

7. A clamp for a ski binding, comprising a suppressor (13) having means to iit against and over a ski boot, the means to t comprising contouring of the suppressor, a pin (27) carried by said suppressor, means to mount said pin on a ski to extend in the horizontal perpendicular directions, means to permit said suppressor to move resiliently out of a normal position for boot engagement by pivoting about the pin axis and by shifting in the horizontal perpendicular directions, means to press the pin of the normal position means to change any such bootand hold it in clamped position on the ski, boot thrust of predetermined magnitude moving said suppressor out of the normal position, means to change any such bootcaused movement of said suppressor into a unidirectional movement and to utilize the unidirectional movement to release said means to press from its action on said pin, whereby a skiers boot may be released upon attainment of predetermined thrusts in a fall.

8. A clamp as claimed in claim 7, said means to change comprising means (14) to execute a rotation -upon shifting in either of the two horizontal perpendicular directions, said -means (14) being pivoted on said suppressor, a portion of said means thereby executing said unidirectional movement for each of the pivoting and shifting movements of said suppressor.

9. A clamp as claimed in claim 7, said means to change comprising a guide means (24) to remain fixed relative to movement of said suppressor in the horizontal perpendicu-v lar directions, said suppressor and said guide means having a contact in the form of a geometrical extreme when said suppressor is in its normal position, movement of said suppressor out of said nor-mal position resulting in a unidirectional movement of said guide means.

10. A clamp as claimed in claim 7, said means to press including a lever means (7) rotatable by a skier into a position parallel to the plane of a ski on which the clamp is mounted and spaced vertically from the ski to bring pressure onto the pin (27), a blocking nose (20) on the underside of the lever means, a latch means (18), means to pivot the latch means, and means to bias the latch means, said latch means catching on the blocking nose yupon rotation of the lever means into the ski-parallel position and being held in catching position by the means to bias, whereby said lever means is maintained in the ski-parallel position, unidirection movement of said means to change moving said latch means out of its catching position on said blocking nose.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,188,104 6/1965 Magnin 280-11.35 3,197,221 7/1965 Gembruch et al. 17.80-11.35 3,258,274 6/1966 Beecher 280-11.35 3,326,567 6/1967 Pronzati 2SC-11.35

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,336,404 7/ 1963 France.

OTHER REFERENCES German printed application, 1,145,070, July 1963,

- Earlebach.

German printed application 1,181,106, November 1964,

- Earlebach.

LEO FRIAGLIA, Primary Examiner JOHN A. PEKAR, Assistant Examiner 

